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Loaded

Don't Sing It, Howlett

January 1999

Prodigy
prime mover Liam on DJs, dancing and dirtchambers.
They
are the biggest dance punk metal beats to dominate planet
earth, but since they finished touring the Fat Of The
Land album last August the Prodigy have been relaxing
in their native Essex. The only thing that’s been
heard from them are pronouncements from main man Liam
Howlett that there will be no more Prodigy albums and
no more tours. The boy’s had enough. Mad Keith’s
at home trying vocal experiments. Maxim’s in his
home studio recording an album. Even big Leeroy’s
getting stuff together. Now Liam’s releasing a
mix album of all time top Prodge block party tunes.
Loaded decided to find out more about the, ahem, Dirtchamber
Sessions and what’s happening in the fat lands
of Essex.

What
have you been doing with all this time off?
”Fuck
all, mate. This year I moved house and built a new studio,
as well as being on tour at the same time. It was a
bit of a headfuck so by the time we did Reading we’d
had enough. I wanted to get back in the studio. Basically
the live show had taken over the recording. Any band
will tell you it gets fucking boring playing the same
songs and shit for more than two years. I’ve been
snowboarding, that’s what I’m into in the
winter. Only like three weeks. It’s great just
to get away. Apart from that I’ve been really just
enjoying time off, not doing fuck all really, going
out and just general fuck all.”

Going
out where? Clubbing?
”What
do you mean by clubbing? Going to dance clubs and like
dancing? No I’ve never been into that. I’m
into bars, going to watch bands play, shit like that,
general parties, but I’m not really into fucking
sweating in a club.”

Cars
are more your things, aren’t they? You’re
known for having more than one motor.
”Am
I? I guess it’s just one of those things. You’re
lucky to earn money, you buy a house, you buy some cars,
that’s the way it goes. I don’t terrorise
the streets of Essex with fast cars but I like driving
cars, yeah.”

Is that
big, chunky, fuck-off cars or little speedy numbers?
”Big
speedy numbers. The only car I really like is the Ferrari
F40. Ferrari is, as far as I’m concerned, are for
people who want to pose or who are too fat and earn
too much money – but the F40 doesn’t really
come under that description. It’s basically a driver’s
car – it’s got no interior in it, it’s
like a racer. It’s a driver’s car but I’m
not like Jamiroquai, don’t get me confused with
that. I don’t wanna come across like Jamiroquai
but I love the old Ferrari F40. It’s the bomb,
y’know?”

I hear
you’re a classically trained pianist. Do you ever
have a quiet night in playing Brahms?
”No,
no. Only at Christmas. But I tell you one thing –
I really wish I could rattle off the old Bullseye theme
on the piano. I’d love to get the music to that
and learn it, so if you know anyone who can get that
music for me...”

We
look forward to the collaboration with Jim Bowen, but
surely the mix album won’t be heavy on TV themes.
What music can we expect?
”Kind
of everything, really. It’s not a Pete Tong on
a Friday night mix. It’s inspired by original hip-hop
mixes like Double D and Steinski, Coldcut, Big Apple
Productions and Grandmaster Flash And The The Wheels
Of Steel. It’s like a journey through my inspirations
in music – old skool hip-hop, a couple of dance
tracks, it’s just good shit. I mean, it’s
only a mix album. I’m not trying to blow it out
of proportion to be something fucking amazing. It’s
only other people’s music.”

So you’re
not going the ’big up yourself, essential selection
in the area’ route?
”I
think DJs aren’t stars. That’s my philosophy.
They’re only people who play other people’s
music. I’m not saying it doesn’t take talent
to build a crowd, but I’m fucked off with the amount
of recognition DJs get. I mean you always get like ”Vasquez,
best DJ in the world” and all this shit, but people
forget what a DJ really is, on the hip-hop side of things
– DJs who have real skills like the Skratch Picklz,
people with skills on the turntables, not just mixing
records in a club. Hip-hop DJing and turntable skills
is what this mix is based on.”

While
we’re talking retro, have you noticed a weird ’80s
revival going on our there?
”Yeah,
I have, as in the original ’80s acts coming back.
Is that what you mean?”

After
the ’80s revival do you think we’ll have a
rave revival?
”Hope
so, yeah, man. ’Cos we’ll be fashionable again.”

But you’re
fucking massive.
”I
don’t think we’ve ever been that fashionable
really. It’s weird with us – we’ll always
have core fans but I think we’re one of those bands
that gets to a certain size but can’t get any bigger.
I don’t want tomake records that appeal to everyone.
I wanna make records that slam the lines in between
the generation gaps. That’s what we stand for.
My dad can listen to Oasis and the Verve and like it
– they’re great songs, cool, it’s lovely
– but for us it’s important to be locked onto
your culture and be on that tip.”

Is it
your nightmare to be the U2 of dance?
”Ha!
Um, no, not really nightmare. I guess we are, aren’t
we? But we have worked fuckin’ hard, been everywhere.”

Now that
you’re a global superstar you must be getting stalked...
”When
I lived in Braintree there were these two girls from
Germany, they camped outside my house in their car.
The whole car like a shrine to the band. It was pretty
freaky. Pictures of fucking Keith plastered all over
the roof and the dashboard. They were there for like
fucking two weeks, sat outside every time I came out.
The scariest was one who thought he was my brother.
He came backstage at one of the gigs in the States and
was convinced I was his brother, Steve. He kept on and
on to the point where we’re walking out to the
car park and I was getting really fucking wound up,
picked a bottle up, I’m like ”Get this fucking
guy away from me.” But it’s nothing like Jay
Kay gets. Luckily we’ve moved to the country, where
not many people know where we live. Before I lived right
in the town and people would stop at my house on their
way to college, people like knocking on my door: ”Yeah,
I went to Our Price and they haven’t got your album.
I wondered if you’ve got any albums I could buy.”
You know, fuck off – I’m not a shop.”

Have
you ever felt unhinged by success, or started feeling
superhuman?
”Success
is a weird thing. Every now and then everyone likes
to feel like a rock star, every now and then you go
out and feel like you’re 10 feet tall, walking
round and fucking larging it. Me, I come home and watch
EastEnders. It brings me back to earth.”

What
next for the Prodigy?
”I’m
not doing another album. Didn’t you hear?”

I heard
that, but I haven’t heard it from you.
”I’m
still not doing it until I’ve got six tracks. It’s
not worth saying to everyone ”Yeah, there’s
another Prodigy album” until I’m exciting
about something, ’cos at the moment I’m not,
so I’ll just go away and get some inspiration.
If I start writing tracks and they come out like ’Firestarter’,
there’s no point. I won’t carry on. Keith
has got to feel like he’s progressing on his vocals,
which I think he has already, with the new lyrics he’s
starting to write. The music has to go somewhere else.”

Have
you considered collaborations?
”Umm,
there’s a few people I’d like to collaborate
with, you know. I’d really like to do a track with
Brian from Placebo.”

Of course,
Bryan Adams is out there at the moment working with
people...
”Yeah,
he’s great, really good. Him and Keith on a track,
imagine that. What do you think?”

Erm...
”I
think Keith’s more of a Kenny Loggins fan. He’ll
be looking to do that, and maybe we’ll get Kenny
G on saxophone.”

Loggins
has got to be looking for work.
”He’s
bang up for it.”

You read
it here first. DANNY PLUNKETT. The Prodigy Present The
Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One is out on XL Recordings
in February.”